Morse Hits Breslin For Backing Tier Six

Deputy Senate Minority Leader Neil Breslin didn’t vote for the Tier Six pension plan, but says on his campaign website he supported the retirement overhaul — a stance his primary opponent Shawn Morse is trying to exploit.

Back in March when a series of late-night votes were held on a package of contentious legislation, the Democratic minority conference walked out of the chamber in protest while Senate Republicans push forward on a vote that would ultimately approve the passage of a lawmaker-drawn redistricting plan for state offices.

After Democrats left, GOP lamwakers sailed through votes on a variety bills, including the Tier Six plan proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a measure that was bitterly opposed by public-employee unions.

“There’s been some push back from the unions, some pushback from individual members. But it’s a different time, a time that there’s not that much money for all of us and so I think that discussion will probably lead to some changes but I would not be surprised if there was some form of Tier VI passed this year,” he said.

But Morse, who has the backing of the Independent Democratic Conference, says that Breslin can’t have it both ways on the proposal.

“Voters have a right to know where their elected leaders stand, and Senators have a responsibility to be honest about critical issues,” continued Morse. “Tier VI was a controversial vote that was closely watched by many people in our district and across the state. All along, I’ve made it very clear that I support retirees and do not believe in balancing the budget on the backs of working people and the middle class. But Breslin has tried to play both sides of Tier VI and acted like honesty doesn’t matter,” said Morse.

Breslin does have solid support from labor, including a very early endorsement from the AFL-CIO.

He’s also been outraising Morse lately, who has reported a relatively fast burn rate through his campaign cash.

It’s not that surprising that Tier Six has become an issue in the Capital Region-area race, where many state workers reside. The Morse campaign goes as far to say that Breslin is “aligning himself” with the policies of the Committee to Save New York — an interesting choice to make a villain here, considering that the business group backs Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s fiscal agenda.

“He’s also been outraising Morse lately, who has reported a relatively fast burn rate through his campaign cash.”
That’s how Red Horse rolls, they burn their candidate’s cash and care little about whether their candidate wins.